--- title: "While you were sleeping: Tuesday, 24th January 2017" description: "Britain to make landmark brexit ruling, Trump charged with federal lawsuit, and the year of the rooster brings out the soothsayers." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "Newsdeck" author: "John Stupart" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/johnstupart/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-01-24-while-you-were-sleeping-tuesday-24th-january-2017/" published: "2017-01-24T05:50:42" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 743 --- # While you were sleeping: Tuesday, 24th January 2017 > Britain to make landmark brexit ruling, Trump charged with federal lawsuit, and the year of the rooster brings out the soothsayers. By John Stupart · Published 24 January 2017, 07:50 SAST ## Content **Tuesday, 24th January 2017** *“It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law.”* **Thomas Hobbes** ![Op-Ed: Independence of Western Sahara is an inalienable right](https://i2.createsend1.com/ei/d/C0/6D5/2D2/csimport/849x493q70Simon-Allison-Nkosazana1.050529.jpg) STORY OF THE DAY [Farewell, Madam Chair: Inside Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s troubled tenure at the African Union](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-hrdjtjk-l-u/) By SIMON ALLISON Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma never looked like she wanted the African Union job, and she won’t be sad to see the back of it. The feeling, however, is mutual. Dlamini-Zuma did little to enhance her reputation during her time in Addis Ababa. In an in-depth feature, SIMON ALLISON looks at what went wrong, and why the dice were loaded against her from the start. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING [Brexit trigger to be determined by Supreme Court](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-hrdjtjk-l-o/) Britain's Supreme Court is set to determine today whether it has the right to bypass parliament to trigger Article 50 and begin Brexit negotiations. It is expected that the decision will go against the government, thereby requiring them to gain parliamentary approval. Democracy is a pain in the arse like this, much to British politicians' chagrin. [Federal lawsuit made against Trump](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-hrdjtjk-l-b/) It took a few days, but a group of New York lawyers have laid a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) accused Trump of violating the consitution by taking money from foreign governments. Since Trump has refused to divest from all of his businesses, many of his Trump Organisation enterprises are constantly receiving foreign funds. Trump's lean, mean orange presidential machine replied that the suit was "without merit. Totally without merit". — [Tillerson named Secretary of State](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-hrdjtjk-l-x/) Former ExxonMobil oil executive Rex Tillerson has been named President Trump's Secretary of State. Tillerson won by a narrow party vote of 11 to 10, but will be virtually assured the post going into the Senate approval stake. Regardless of what Tillerson is, he is no John Kerry. [Year of the rooster to be turbulent](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-hrdjtjk-l-m/) A Hong Kong soothsayer has predicted that 2017, the Year of the Rooster, will be one of fights, brinkmanship, and general upheaval. If anything, this goes to show that one does not need mysticism to predict the future when you are literally living in a year of the cock. — IN NUMBERS 255 The age of Adwaita, a tortoise who lived in a zoo in Kolkata, India. Adwaita died in 2006. FACTS OF THE DAY Today in 1908 saw the formation of the first Scout Troop by **Robert Baden-Powell.** **Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran.**She is also mentioned [more times](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-hrdjtjk-l-c/) in the Quran than the New Testament. 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